The Lakers breezed through the first round of the NBA playoffs as they swept Denver in four games. Their last game was on April 28 as they waited for other teams to win before the second round started. This gave the Lakers more than a few days to prepare for their next game, which was today against the Utah Jazz. The rest paid off because the Lakers won 109-98.
It is no big surprise that the MVP of the game was Kobe Bryant. Playing on his home turf, Bryant went 8 for 16. He scored a total of 38 points. He had 6 rebound and 7 assists. He also hit 21 of 23 of his free throws and had 1 3-pointer. The boy was on fire.
Magic Johnson had complimentary words for Bryant who he claims deserved all the credit because he’s really the one responsible for rallying the team together this season. Pau Gasol, the Lakers center, had an excellent game. He went 8 for 13 in field goals and 2 for 4 in free throws. In all, Gasol scored 18 points with 10 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Lakers, as a whole, had a successful game, but Kobe really stole the show tonight. Kobe seemed to live on the foul line and the Jazz coach, Jerry Sloan, while cordial, didn’t seem to happy about that. When asked about his success at scoring so many free throws, this is what Bryant had to say.
“You’ve got to be able to knock those free throws down. They’re open looks. It’s my responsibility to knock them down.”
That is exactly what Kobe did.
The Jazz played well, but the Lakers out played them. They challenged them. They took advantage of their weaknesses and exploited them for the win. The Utah MVP of the game was Mehmet Okur. He went 7 for 19 scoring 21 points in total. He also had 19 rebounds and 3 assists. These didn’t seem to help him much as the Lakers led throughout the majority of the game. At one point, they led by over 20 points.
The Lakers and Jazz meet up again in L.A. for the last game they’ll play before heading to Utah. The game is on May 7, 2008 at 10:30 PM.
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-----------------------Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
I know it was months ago but I still couldn’t be happier that the Lakers and Kobe/Rapist got pissed on by the Celtics. Great times.